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Intense Black metal
Dead As Dreams is one of the best USBM albums around. Weakling offers the listener seventy-five minutes of raging Black metal with cutting-edge song writing and epic song structures. It's diverse, heart-wrenching and driven; don't miss out if you ever bump into this hard-to-find gem!
Progressive Melodic Death metal
Monolith is easily among the most awesome releases I've heard all year. This addictive and hauntingly beautiful album is every reason why In Mourning are/should be top of the class.
Follow the review link for more shameless self-promotion.
Power metal
This is a Brazilian album/band that will have probably slipped by a lot of people. Released in the second half of the last decade, "Believe" is an album of super cheesy power metal that has some really catchy moments. For a little-known band, this is a top class album.
Staff pick by: Baz Anderson
Nokia Death metal
Hailing from the legendary underground scene of Nokia, Finland, is Convulse. World Without God is their masterpiece, a spaced-out piece of old school Death metal. Now re-released by Relapse Records with the Resuscitation Of Evilness! If you're a fan of old school Death metal or of cult spaced-out extreme music, don't miss out!
Staff pick by: Lucas
Endorsed by: Bas, Marcel Hubregtse, ylside, Troy Killjoy, X-Ray Rod
Groove Thrash
Although the songwriting can be at times patchy, this is still the best album in recent memory for the sound fetishists amongst us. A meditation on the pure sonic impact and bliss that comes from listening to a distortion guitar, Cutthroat Melodies, when played on a good sound system, will definitely remind us why we got into metal in the first place.
Staff pick by: jupitreas
Endorsed by: Ag Fox
Thrash
Holy Terror are a second-wave thrash band that put out a couple albums in the 80's, then disappeared. Terror And Submission was recently re-issued (again) along with Mind Wars, making it obtainable for those of us who still buy disks.

What they lacked in finesse they made up for in droves with boundless, raw kinetic energy, enthusiasm, and the fantastic vocals of Keith Deen.

"T&S" is recommended for fans of raw 80's thrash metal.
Thrash! Thrash! Thrash!
In case you haven't heard the news, one of the best Thrash albums of 2010 has already been released. Don't make me say I told you so, but this album is totally awesome. And act surprised when they win a Metal Storm Award, okay?
Glacial Funeral Doom
Urna combines Esoteric-esque hellfire with glacial sorrow. Iter Ad Lucem ("Path towards the light") thrives on it's wonderfully sorrowful, lucid and opaque guitar tone. Soaring melodies are deeply buried, although still very audible. Iter Ad Lucem will tear your soul apart with it's translucent honesty, a jewel to remember.
Staff pick by: Lucas
Endorsed by: Marcel Hubregtse, Götter, Troy Killjoy, X-Ray Rod
Genre: Debatable
This is the continuation of Celtic Frost. In the similar style of "Monotheist", this album is essentially Celtic Frost with a different rhythm section. Dark, gloomy, reflective, yet also at a slightly more exciting pace than Tom Warrior's last output. This is as heavy as they come. A top quality release from the mind behind the frontman of one of the most influential extreme metal bands in history.
Staff pick by: Baz Anderson
Endorsed by: Thryce, X-Ray Rod
Alternative metal
This week-end I'll be seeing Life Of Agony play their entire River Runs Red album live (needless to say I'm psyched). The perfect occasion for the both of us to dust off this old record. A real classic - they don't make them like that anymore.
Ethereal Sludge Doom
Corrupted is one of the most intriguing bands I've ever come across. Their discography is impressive and filled with little and big gems. Of the full-lengths, Se Hace Por Los Suenos Asesinos is their most accesible, but that does not mean it's a sellout's attempt at easy cash. "Gekkou No Daichi" is a seventeen minutes soothing acoustic piece, with Hevi's majestic spoken word. "Rato Triste" and "Sus Futuros" are two insanely heavy sludge-numbers, with killer riffs and immensily brutal vocals. If you and Se Hace... manage to click, there's a world of beauty and brutality waiting to be explored by you.
Staff pick by: Lucas
Endorsed by: Marcel Hubregtse, X-Ray Rod
Funeral Doom
The album opens reminding the listener "the outer body is a stinking cadaver, because it still lives in poison", and goes downhill from there. Glaciers advance faster than the songs on this album. Empty, reverberating drums, painfully slow guitar melodies, somewhat buried vocals, wrapped in a Yanni-paced organ? these guys sure put the "Fun" in "Funeral!"
Staff pick by: BitterCOld
Endorsed by: Marcel Hubregtse, Troy Killjoy
Thrash metal
An old album from a band that has only just recently come into my attention. This is the band's second album and probably the most solid. This is thrash metal, but is also very melodic and speed metal-like in places with the clean vocals, as it is also somewhat progressive in places. If this sounds like something that might appeal to you, definitely go for it.
Staff pick by: Baz Anderson
Endorsed by: Deadsoulman, ylside, Marcel Hubregtse, Ag Fox
Progressive Hardcore
Great return of the craziest american band. Powerful, progressive, violent, disturbing, funky and jazzy... just unique! The Dillinger Escape Plan is the living proof that metal can still be original nowadays. Option Paralysis, released by the french label Season Of Mist, should convice old fans like new ones who are maybe looking for something a bit more accessible.

Answer the 23th of march 2010!
Staff pick by: Jeff
Endorsed by: X-Ray Rod
Shoegaze / Post Punk / Black metal
Brilliant. Bewitching. Bright. Beautiful. Breathtaking. Bemusing... All that and so much more. Nothing short of a wonderful experience! In any case, a highly applauded album you should hear before you die.
Staff pick by: Thryce
Endorsed by: X-Ray Rod